Economics and Culture in Early 20th Century America

History for Grownups
copyright 2007,
David White

Economics and Culture
in Early 20th Century America

America in the early 20th Century was a country undergoing great economic and cultural change.

The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Eyewitness accounts punctuate this examination of the harrowing quake and fire

Grand Canyon Becomes National Monument
The Grand Canyon became a national monument on January 11, 1908, as part of a declaration by President Theodore Roosevelt. A friend to the environment, Roosevelt had this to say about the natural wonder: "The ages had been at work on it, and man can only mar it."

Henry Ford and the Car
The automobile-making pioneer

The Titanic
Famed ocean liner never finished maiden voyage

The Opening of the Panama Canal
On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal opened for business, with the passage through of the Ancon, an American cargo-passenger ship.

Prohibition
It's all about the alcohol.

The Roaring Twenties
Cultural issues in the 1920s

Jazz
Uniquely American form of music came to fore in the early 20th Century

Flapper Culture and Style
The dress craze the swept the nation

Gangsters
Had a lot of say in the early part of the century

The Record-Setting Day of the "Flying Finn"
One of the most extraordinary sporting feats of all time came in 1925. Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi broke two world records in the space of an hour.

Mickey Mouse's Big Success Begins
On November 3, 1928, Steamboat Willie, the first first Mickey Mouse cartoon to be a success, debuted. It catapulted its star and its creator, Walt Disney, to fame. Read more about this famous first, which was actually a third, and find out which other cartoon character Mickey Mouse most closely resembles. Did Walt Disney copy someone else?

The Great Depression
Severe economic downturn that ended no time soon

The Scopes 'Monkey Trial'
Legal struggle over evolution in Tennessee schools

Jesse Owens Wins Four Gold Medals
On August 9, 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal of the Olympic Games in Berlin.

John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell was one of America's greatest and boldest explorers. He it was who went down the deadly Colorado River, naming the Grand Canyon in the process. He it was who explored (and mapped) much of the unsettled American West. He it was who never took no for an answer.

The Late 20th Century
Life in America after the World War II

Painters

Edward Hopper

Stuart Davis

Man Ray

Georgia O'Keefe

Thomas Hart Benton

Authors

Sinclair Lewis

Willa Cather

William Faulkner

Ernest Hemingway